Partnered with China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection, Smog Free Tower can be tested under the toughest conditions

The seven meters high Smog Free Tower, launched on 4 September 2015 in Rotterdam, is greedy. He only likes smog. To be precise, the smog filter absorbs up to 30.000m³ of polluted air per hour. It spits out smog free air and creates a clean island in the immediate vicinity. After several months in Rotterdam, the smog filter will soon clean one of the world’s most polluted cities – Beijing in China. Partnered with China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection, Roosegaarde’s smog filter can be tested under the toughest conditions.

Beijing with smog on the top – Below: Beijing after rain shower (Dan Roosegaarde)

Smog Free Tower is probably the world’s largest mobile smog filter

Dan Roosegaarde’s points out that people in the Netherlands live 9 months shorter because of polluted air. “I believe we should do more, not less. We are happy to launch the Smog Free Tower to show a clean future.” the Dutch designer Roosegaarde says.

Dan Roosegaarde with absorbed smog (Dan Roosegaarde)

Absorbed smog (Dan Roosegaarde)

With support of his team of experts, Roosegarde patented the Smog Free Tower’s ion technology. Allegedly, this huge smog filter produces smog-free bubbles of public space with no more electricity than a water boiler and runs on green energy. The experience of clean air for free within high polluted cities can get reality and is not an unrealistic dream. According to Roosegaarde, his smog filter is not intended to be a final local solution for clean parks. It can be an interesting experience of a future with clean air.

Driverless car technology can possibly reduce road fatalities. But how to program the machines moral principles?

Proponents of the driverless car technology sometimes point out the chance to reduce car casualties compared to human-controlled cars. But how should the automated vehicles (AVs) decide when it comes to the following scenario consisting of two options?

Running over one or more pedestrians or

sacrificing the passengers

The recently released study “The social dilemma of autonomous vehicles”, published in the online journal Science and co-authored by an MIT, makes clear that the public is conflicted over such scenarios. According to the surveys of the scientists, people like to drive with driverless cars in order to reduce road casualties in hazardous situations. On the other hand, they are not interested in driving a car which crashes against an obstacle to avoid killing a crowd of 10 pedestrians. They prefer cars that protect their passengers at all costs.

Regulations for the driverless car technology with utilitarian principles would make people less willing to buy an autonomous vehicle

People prefer pedestrian-friendly driverless cars but the car they are driving with should be an exception. “If everybody does that, then we would end up in a tragedy … whereby the cars will not minimize casualties,” says Iyad Rahwan, an associate professor in the MIT Media Lab and co-author of a new paper outlining the study.

The car must decide between (A) killing several pedestrians or one passerby, (B) killing one pedestrian or its own passenger, and (C) killing several pedestrians or its own passenger (Jean-Francois Bonnefon et al.)

“Most people want to live in a world where cars will minimize casualties,” Rahwan adds. “But everybody wants their own car to protect them at all costs.” Participants of the study disapprove utilitarian regulations for driverless cars. They would be less interested in buying such a vehicle. “This is a challenge that should be on the mind of carmakers and regulators alike,” the scholars write. Moreover, if autonomous vehicles actually turned out to be safer than regular cars, unease over the dilemmas of regulation “may paradoxically increase casualties by postponing the adoption of a safer technology.”

(Courtesy of the researchers)

The scientists conclude:

Figuring out how to build ethical autonomous machines is one of the thorniest challenges in artificial intelligence today. As we are about to endow millions of vehicles with autonomy, a serious consideration of algorithmic morality has never been more urgent. Our data-driven approach highlights how the field of experimental ethics can provide key insights into the moral, cultural, and legal standards that people expect from autonomous driving algorithms. For the time being, there seems to be no easy way to design algorithms that would reconcile moral values and personal self-interest – let alone account for different cultures with various moral attitudes regarding life-life trade-offs – but public opinion and social pressure may very well shift as this conversation progresses.

Huge quantities of urban wastewater from all over the world are a great chance to gain valuable resources

The treatment of urban wastewater can be seen as a challenging task. Maybe it is better to see and use it as a valuable resource? It can be used as a source of energy, soil conditioner, drought-resistant source of water, and source of nutrients for agriculture. A move towards a more planned use of urban wastewater makes it possible to receive large quantities of valuable goods.

Urban wastewater can be seen as a huge renewable resource with various usage possibilities

Increasing demands for phosphate-based fertilizer and decreasing qualities of reservoirs are calling for new solutions. German scientists from the Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB in Stuttgart developed a market-ready system to produce phosphate-based fertilizer eco-friendly from wastewater. The fertilizer can be used directly for agriculture. According to Fraunhofer, the patented technology is already marked by a licensee in North America.

The electrochemical process ePhos® recycles wastewater with no need of chemicals. The phosphorus recovering process does not harm the environment. The reactor is placed directly at the wastewater treatment plants. Allegedly, the obtained phosphorus is ready to be used in food production.

The electrolysis cell ePhos® extracts nitrogen and phosphorus purely electrochemical. The process is very straightforward and doesn’t require to stock chemicals (Fraunhofer IGB)

The extraction of nitrogen and phosphorus results in either struvite (magnesium ammonium phosphate) or potassium struvite. “Struvite is free of biomass and can be used directly in agriculture as a high-quality fertilizer that releases nutrients slowly,” explains Dr. Iosif Mariakakis, project manager at Fraunhofer IGB. It is worth drawing attention to the purely electrochemical process with no necessity to add salt or lye. “This is also good news for water treatment plant operators – the process is very straightforward and doesn’t require them to stock chemicals,” Mariakakis continues.

The recycling process for phosphorus is described by Fraunhofer researchers as follows:

Recovering ammonium (NH4+) and phosphate (PO43-) from wastewater requires an electrolysis cell. Such cells consist of one magnesium anode and a cathode. Cathodic reduction results in water splitting: hydroxide ions (OH-) form while hydrogen (H2) is released. Oxidation occurs at the anode – magnesium ions react with the phosphate and ammonium present in the water to form struvite. The process has the benefits of not requiring any additional chemicals, such as magnesium chloride (MgCl2) or sodium hydroxide (NaOH), and consuming very little energy (0.78 kWh/m³ wastewater).

Light pollution needs to be addressed immediately - even though it can be instantly mitigated, its consequences cannot

Light pollution changes the lighting levels by night and is caused by anthropogenic sources of light. This side effect of our industrialized civilization is an analogy to added sound or carbon dioxide. Of course, cities are the main sources when it comes to light pollution. One of the most extensive light polluting studies “The new world atlas of artificial night sky brightness” with several maps and statistics has been published recently. A group of scientists from Italy, Germany, USA, and Israel prepared detailed maps of artificial sky luminance with the help of high-resolution satellite data, light pollution propagation software, and new precision sky brightness measurements.

Even pristine landscapes around urbanized areas are affected

More than 99 percent of the U.S. and European populations live under light-polluted skies. Actually, light pollution can be observed hundreds of kilometers from its source. Even pristine landscapes around urbanized areas are affected. Small increases in aerosols often lead to greater pollution near and inside cities.

Countries of the G20 group sorted by polluted area – Ordered by using the area of the three most polluted levels (yellow, red, and white) – Color ranges on the right indicate the pollution level (µcd/m²) (Fabio Falchi et al.)

“Light pollution is one of the most pervasive forms of environmental alteration”

Countries of the G20 group sorted by population exposed to light pollution – Color ranges on the right indicate the pollution level (µcd/m²) (Fabio Falchi et al.)

The scientists conclude:

The results presented here demonstrate that light pollution is a global issue. Most of the world is affected by this problem, and humanity has enveloped our planet in a luminous fog that prevents most of Earth’s population from having the opportunity to observe our galaxy. This has a consequent potential impact on culture that is of unprecedented magnitude. Moreover, light pollution causes global ecological consequences, poses public health issues, and wastes energy and money.

Light pollution needs to be addressed immediately because, even though it can be instantly mitigated (by turning off lights), its consequences cannot (for example, loss of biodiversity and culture). Fortunately, techniques to substantially reduce light pollution are already known, and some of them have already been implemented at a relatively large scale (for example, Lombardia and most other Italian regions, Slovenia, two regions in Chile, and part of Canary Islands).

The main prescriptions to lower light pollution are as follows:

full shielding of lights (that is, do not allow luminaires to directly send any light at and above the horizon or outside the area to be lit),

using the minimum light for the task,

shutting off light or lowering its levels substantially when the area is not in use,

decreasing the total installed flux (as is happening to most other pollutants),

and strongly limiting the “blue” light that interferes with circadian rhythms and scotopic vision.

Water which is not reused flows into the “energy alley“

German scientists from the Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research (ISI) from Karlsruhe presented an energy-saving waste water treatment concept for urban areas at IFAT trade fair 2016. It will be installed in the following three years in the German city of Lünen.

Renovation cycles of water pipes can take a very long time up to 70 years for municipal sewage systems or 30 years for baths in apartments. These long periods are an advantage on the one hand but a disadvantage on the other hand. The rigid system is not very flexible.

An integrated water energy transition concept, called i.WET, has been prepared in the joint project “Paths Of Transition For Water Infrastructure Systems TWIST ++”. It demonstrates with real scenarios how to integrate little by little a modern and intelligent water supply and energy-saving waste water treatment in urban environments.

The module-based implementation is flexible, takes account of renovation cycles of present systems, and “combines new water and wastewater technologies intelligently”. I.WET gives answers to three important challenges of the German water infrastructure – the turnaround in energy policy, the climate change and the demographic change.

The separate disposal of gray and black water (less and highly polluted water) is the central issue of specific measures for buildings, canal systems and sewage treatment plants within i.WET. In practice this means one pipe for water from shower and wash basins and another pipe for toilets, washing machines and dishwashers. For instance, a German citizen uses an average of about 110 liters of water every day. “Up to 50 percent of this water is required for showers and baths. This water is good for reuse – such as for flushing the toilet,“ says Dr.-Ing. Thomas Hillenbrand, scientist at the Fraunhofer Institute ISI in Karlsruhe.

Water which is not reused flows into the “energy alley“. This is a roadside green verge with water-loving plants whose roots are standing in the water. This is an ideal growing condition because they can absorb the remaining nutrients of the grey water. In the long run, vacuum dewatering will keep the sewers operable.

“The result is biomass, the cities are greener and the threat of flooding is reduced – due to the water tank under the plants. One square meter per inhabitant is sufficient. In the long term, such a system can be operated more favorably than the current standard sewer system,“ Hillenbrand explains.

Energy-Saving waste water treatment i.WET realized within the next three years

Consequently, sewage water treatment plants will only receive highly polluted water. It can be used straight for the production of methane in a biogas plant. In this way, the energy demand of the treatment plant decreases considerably.

The findings of i.WET will be realized within a project in the German city of Lünen with about 85,000 inhabitants. “Time is on our side. The respective renovation cycles are expiring,“ Hillenbrand reports. Realization is expected within the next three years.